The Place Where One Belongs
by HolyDragoon
Summary: Even Lilith pities Shinji. She sent him to another world, to seek his paradise. And he is not alone. What will happen to him? Can hot blood cure his misery?
1. Far Away From Home

**Disclaimer: Super Robot Wars belongs to Banpresto, along with the mechs. Evangelion belongs to Gainax... to be short, I don't own them.**

**Well, this is an attempt at a crossover between SRW: Original Generation and Evangelion. Hope you enjoy it. Beta readers are welcome, English is not my native language.**

**STAGE 1: START!**

* * *

It was the end of days for humanity.

Lilith stood, her wings of light visible from beyond the edge of the Solar System. In her hands lied the souls of humanity, quite literally. Despite what you may think, Lilith isn't happy with the events.

Inside her mind, three woman had a serious talk.

**"This is wrong. My offspring have messed up big time. And this kid was caught in the middle. What do you know about it, Ayanami?"**

Rei, clad as always in her school uniform, looked to the floor and said nothing. She found that few could bear to look Lilith in the eye in her hour of rage. Lilith sighted explosively.

"**You've just pleaded yourself as guilty of this situation, alongside with that other bastard. I'm disappointed. You, as a part of me, should know better than this. Instead, you acted like Eve, always silent and being the yes sir of that.... argh, I give up."** Lilith turned to the other woman, who looked at her, unflinching. **"Your intentions ended up corrupted. The kid is strong, I grant you that, but I don't think he should belong to this world. Only death will come for him."**

Yui Ikari let her mind drift. She made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that Humanity would have a future, but her husband ruined everything. She expected more from him. Her eyes turned to the shadow that was her son's soul. An upside of this situation is that she could read humanity as a book, thanks to Lilith's power and generosity. She bit her lip, before looking again at the goddess. **"He does not deserve to die. After all that he suffered, I guess he should have the future I planned for him to have, had Gendo done what was right. Is there no other choice for him?"**

Lilith smirked. **"When I said he couldn't come back, I didn't mean he should die. I was merely suggesting to send him somewhere else, where he can heal and grow to be what he could be. It is far away from here, but it is nothing for me. But first, he has the right to make the last choice. Come forth, Shinji Ikari!"**

From the sea of souls, the one belonging to the Third Children approached Lilith and took the form of the boy's body. He looked around, cowering in fear as he saw the fire in the eyes of the Second Angel. **"Y- Yes?" **

The angel ruffled his brown hair, giving him a reassuring smile.** "Fear not. I called you because you are the only one to make the choice that will define Humanity from now on. Will their AT Fields come up again, bringing all the pain form lack of communication and ****comprehension? Or will humanity stay like this, without pain, but without being able to grow and evolve? It is your choice, and yours alone."**

His storm blue eyes looked to his mother, then to Rei, then to Lilith again, who waited patiently. His mind raced, trying to process all that he saw in the egg of souls. The pain, the hatred, the sorrow... but also the love, the friendship and the compassion. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself a smirk before facing Lilith again.** "There are many bad things in humanity, but all is not lost. There will always be good in the hearts of people, no matter how they try to hide it. I believe... I believe we should have another chance to live."**

Lilith nodded.** "Ask, and you shall receive. If they have enough strength in their hearts, then they will return to the world. Life will go on."**

Yui stepped forward, hugging Shinji.** "As long as people exist, they can find their heaven. As long as the Sun and Earth are in their places, humanity will move on... and when the time comes, where the Sun goes supernova and scorches Earth... even then I doubt that humanity will be extinct. Such is the blessing of the Fruit of Knowledge."**

Lilith sighed. She hated what she was about to say, but it was needed.** "But their destiny is not ****your own, Shinji Ikari. There's not much here left for you, and I believe there you heaven is in a place far from here. Take your time to talk with your mother. When you are ready, talk to me again. I will be waiting."**

* * *

In the middle of some plains, a red robot impaled another robot in the chest with his arm-mounted stake. The impaled robot' sensors flickered and died, and it fell to the ground, its oversized limbs spread open. Inside the red robot, Kyosuke Nanbu sighed. The Bartools, somehow, were back. Although they weren't trying to get human beings like they did in the beginning of the ODE Incident, their reaction time seemed faster and their grasping of the concept of tactics was way better. Looking to his left, the ATX Team leader saw a robot shaped like an angel dispatching several Bartools with sword strikes and fire support from a white mech with a long rifle.

Lamia Loveless, the green haired pilot of the Angelg, was pissed off. She still remembered what Juergen did to her after Lt. Kyosuke recovered her, and she wasn't happy to see these nightmarish mechs again. Grabbing her sword on a reverse grip, she slashed the torso of a nearby enemy, while shooting another with her Shadow Lance. Her attacks hit the chests of the AI controlled robots, piercing their engine and blowing them up. Suddenly, she was thrown forward as another one managed to get a lucky shot on her back.

**'Damn. Forgot to pay attention to my back,'** she thought, turning in the balls of her mech's feet and facing the new threat, only to see it blown up by one of the white PT's accurate shots. Suddenly, a comm channel was opened, and Lamia looked into the face of a smiling blonde, clad in red.

"**Looks like he was trying to get an advantage from behind, eh? They don't know a thing about the proper way to treat a lady!" **said a grinning Excellen Browning, pilot of the Weissritter.

Lamia nodded.** "Thank you for the help, Excellen. How long until reinforcements arrive?"**

Execellen's gaze diverted itself from the comm screen as she dodged and fire at another Bartool with her arm-mounted Triple Beam Cannon. **"Ten more minutes, and Bullet should arrive with the Aggressors and the SRX Team. Until then, we must hold off, although I think that won't be a problem."** she noted, looking to her left side.

Lamia did the same, only to see Alteisen Riese dispatching several Bartools with a discharge of steel pellets from his shoulder Claymores. The robots seemed to hold for some moments, before giving way to the titanium ball fury coming from the ATX Team PT.

Excellen clapped in joy.** "Oh, they always fall for that one," **she says, before approaching the other mech and letting loose a burst of energy from her Ochstan Rifle. The enemy units, knowing that attack pattern, dodged quickly...

… only to find themselves slaughtered by the Angelg's Illusion Arrows and the Split Missiles from the Riese. The resulting blasts played hell with their tight formation, with the wrecks of destroyed units hitting the others, causing a chain reaction that neutralized half of the group. The remaining units were rewarded with fire from the Chain Gun mounted in the left arm of the red mech, along with an improvisation from Lamia, who kicked the closest AI robot to the ground and finished it off, stabbing her sword in its chest. The Bartool shuddered and deactivated, before the Angelg lifted off, dodging a burst of laser fire from one of the other enemy units.

With their superior numbers, the white and pink robots recovered their advantage, forcing the EFA pilots to remain defensive and take potshots at the coming tide.

Excellen gave them a little gift, courtesy of her mech's missiles, before hitting one Bartool with her rifle. The robot staggered, its optical systems damaged by the improvised melee weapon, and made himself a great target for the Weissritter's Plasma Blade. The blonde pilot took the chance and cleaved the enemy unit in half, letting it fall to the ground where it lied, motionless.** 'Hurry up Bullet, this is getting a bit too much for us...' **she thought, her personal trooper shaking from a glancing hit from the ODE system-controlled units.

* * *

The talk between Shinji and his mother was long and sad, but in the end, it made the boy come to peace with himself. He hugged his mother once more, letting his tears flow freely. **"I wish I could stay with you after all that happened... why should I go away?"** he asked. He did not understand the reasons behind Lilith's reasoning.

Yui ruffled his hair, before looking him in the eyes. **"Shinji, this pains me as much as it pains you, but I don't even know if I can return to the living after this is all over. Besides, Lilith believes there's a better place for you, you heard it yourself. I'd like to believe her. What you've gone through... that was not in my expectations the day I entered EVA." **She wiped some tears from the face of her son. **"I believe this is the best for you. This time, nothing could go wrong."**

The boy chuckled. **"Yeah, worse than this it can't be"**

**"You're not happy for seeing me, young man?"** Yui feigned indignation. Shinji opened and closed his mouth, attempting to answer, before he looked to the grin his mother had in her face and realized she was teasing him.

Taking a deep breath, he stood on his feet.** "Well, I guess there's no use in delaying this moment anymore."** Mother and son then walked to Lilith once again.

**"So, are you ready, young one?"** the angel asked.

Shinji nodded. **"There isn't much left to do here, is it? Humanity will return. I am sad I cannot return with them, but if you believe there's a place somewhere else that I can call paradise... then I will search for it."** He paused, before speaking again, his voice betraying his sadness. **"Goodbye, mother."**

Yui's face was covered in tears, but she still found strength in her heart to say the words she dreaded the most.** "Goodbye, Shinji. I love you, son."**

Lilith's face was a mask of serenity, but she, as the origin of humanity, felt their pain as it was hers. Still, it was for the best. No one could ignore his ever-present kindness, even after all the things he lived through**. "Shinji," **she finally said, **"it is time now. Farewell."**

With that, the Third Child vanished. Lilith sighed. **"He won't go alone. I had a certain... someone, who suggested that he takes someone with him."** With a wave of her hand, a soul left the others, and joined Shinji inside the Entry Plug, recovering the physical body it had before.

Inside the plug, Shinji felt like someone fell on top of him. A familiar voice whispered on his ears, making a simple request. The pilot smiled, and nodded, before losing consciousness. The Entry Plug ejected itself from Unit-01, and vanished, leaving behind a trail of light, like a reversed shooting star.

"**It is done. Now, humanity will return... most of it. There are some people that do not deserve to live... SEELE... and your husband. You will be the judge for this one, Yui."**

Yui Ikari nodded, as she faced her husband once again. She stepped forward, and gave him no time to talk, kicking him in the crotch. He fell on the ground, screaming in pain as he heard the words of hatred coming from the woman he loved the most in the world. **"Gendo, you fool! I tried to bring a better future to our son, but you had to go and MESS IT UP! I trusted you, goddamn it! I though you were better than this! But no, you had to ruin everything. I know what you have done mister, and if you think you can return, you are mistaken. Your soul will be torn apart when this is over. And the SEELE council will go with you. You have failed me."**

"**Please, Yui..."** the commander of NERV tried to reply, before his word was cut by his pissed off wife.

"**I'm not hearing anything from you, you sick bastard. Damn you for your crimes."** She turned away from him, not before she showed Gendo the pain of having the crotch kicked twice.

Lilith grinned. Yui Ikari's anger was like the fury of nature itself. **"And now... time to undo Third Impact."** She opened her arms, wings of light shining brighter than the sun, and the souls left the place that contained them, returning to the places where they came from. Again, the world was covered in white crosses, as the first people found themselves returning to the world.

The revival of humanity had begun, and Unit-01 floated before Lilith. Yui awaited the final destiny of her home in the past ten years, and her final destiny. The angel grabbed the petrified biomechanical being, and threw it gently, allowing it to escape Earth orbit and proceed to deep space.

**'And this is the way it ends...'** Lilith felt her body weakening, but she wasn't feeling any fear of death. The only thing she felt was a pleasant warmth and a sense of peace she never thought she would feel. She smiled.** 'It's so warm... feels so good... is this... happiness?'** A silent burst of light filled the Earth, and with that, Lilith was gone, along with those who wanted Third Impact to happen.

* * *

Things were not looking good for the EFA pilots still fighting the Bartools. They had several scorch marks from the lasers, and their ammo supply was growing thin. Angelg, thanks to an energy regeneration system, still has enough power to keep firing, taking advantage from the feints of the other pilots, allowing her shots to destroy multiple opponents.

Still, it wasn't enough, as they were surrounded. Weissritter was forced to land, the Tesla drive severely damaged. One of the Bartools threw himself at her, and prepared to deliver the finishing blow. He pointed the cannon to the chest of the blonde's mech...

… but was blown up by a accurate shot. Looking in the direction of the shot, the pilots saw two mechs, one of them pointing a large rifle at the army of Bartools that stood before them. A large, brown battleship covered the sky behind them, unloading more robots, ready to join the fray.

Meanwhile, a giant, red mech holding a katana appeared form above, slashing or crushing many units due to it's sheer weight.

Kyosuke sighed in relief. At last, reinforcements. A Comm window opened to his left, and the face of Tetsuya, captain of the battleship, appeared on the screen. **"Lieutenant, is everybody all right?"**

"**Yes, we're fine Captain, we only got some scratches and are low on ammo." **

The brown haired captain nodded.** "Board the Hagane, I'm sure your units need some repairs. It's happening again, only without the abductions..."**

"**Understood." **replied the pilot of the Alteisen, before relaying the order to Lamia and Excellen.

Meanwhile, the remaining Aggressors and the SRX Team, along with Bullet and his red Grungust, were dispatching Bartools like no tomorrow. Kai had shown the reason why a mass produced Gespenst shouldn't be considered a piece of junk, punching consecutive enemies with his mech's Jet Magnum. Arado and Seolla, the pilots of the Wildwurger and the Wildfalken, as well as the first reinforcements that arrived on the field, engaged in a variation of the Twin Bird Strike designed for eliminating large numbers of enemies instead of concentrating on just one of them.

In fact, the regular tactics of the members of the EFA elite squads were redesigned after the conclusion of the ODE Incident, bearing in mind the fact that the enemy could know their current tactics, and trying to find possible solutions for that situation.

Aya and Rai fired their long range weapons, distracting the Bartools, that were promptly dispatched, courtesy of Ryusei's TK Knuckles. The mecha otaku grinned as he whipped out one of his G-Revolvers and fired some shots, that struck true in their targets. Three more blossoms of smoke and fire appeared in the skies, as the R-1 landed on the ground.

All the pilots received the same message: **"Clear a path, Hagane firing the Tronium Cannon"**. No sooner had they done that, an intense beam passed, cleaning up most of the Bartools that composed the remains of the strike force. The stray survivors tried to flee, but their unprotected backs were giant targets for the EFA pilots, that took the chance to shot them down like turkeys.

Meanwhile, a familiar Entry Plug had landed in the battle field. Although it was a messy landing, nobody noticed it until after the AI units were all shot down.

Seolla was the first one to notice the strange object.** 'Hmm? How strange...'** she mused to herself, while doing a deep scan of the object.

The result made her eyes grow to the size of saucers. She opened a comm channel to the Hagane, feeding them the images and the scan results. **"Captain, I found a strange object. It has life signs coming from the inside!"**

The captain of the Hagane stared at the white-haired pilot. **"Hmm... the object has no visible markings that could reveal its affiliation... Retrieve it with Arado, please. We'll see what's inside in the hangar."**

The female pilot nodded.** "As you wish. Arado, you heard the captain, let's go!" **

Carefully, the two mechs grabbed the ends of the entry plug, carrying it safely to the entrance of the hangar bay of the Hagane. Inside, Shinji and the other passenger of the former cockpit of Unit-01 were still half stunned, but could clearly feel they were being moved. They said nothing, though. They were tired, it was pitch black inside the plug, and there was nothing they could do.

* * *

**Stage 1 Complete!**

**And the damn Bartools are back! I hate those guys, that's why I chose them as the villains. Prepare to see 101 ways to kill a Bartool in this fic. **

**As it happens with my other fic, I will be shooting canon with the Weissritter's Ochstan Rifle.**

See ya!


	2. An Unfamiliar Ceiling

**Disclaimer: Yadda yadda, Banpresto, Gainax, yadda yadda, you know the drill. **

**So...**

**Note: As of March 13th, there is a small update on this chapter. Special thanks for Rpgingmaster for proposing the changes and making me notice the details I missed.  
**

**STAGE 2: START!**

* * *

The hangar bay of the Hagane was a very busy place. With the detection of life signs in the unknown object, the Hagane anti-boarding troops were setting up defensive positions in case the unknowns were hostile. In a balcony, a brown haired mechanic made last-minute adjustments to the robotic arm that handled the cutting laser. Behind him, the three elite EFA teams, Tetsuya and a purple haired man were waiting for the procedure to start.

One of the troops behind cover activated the radio. **"Captain, this is Alpha Lead. Defense teams are ready for the procedure." **

Tetsuya nodded, as he turned to the mechanic. **"Ryoto, you may start the opening procedure."**

Ryoto acknowledged the order.** "Roger. Activating cutting laser." **The hangar occupants watched as the robotic arm approached the object and cut a circular hole in the worn metal. The cut section of the entry plug gave way, releasing a torrent of orange liquid. The troops frowned at the stench of blood that suddenly reached their nostrils.

A head with deep blue eyes peeked out, coughing the same orange liquid that was in side the object. He looked to the troops, rifles trained at him, and at the small crowd in the balcony...

… squealed like a little girl, and fainted.

The EFA forces looked at each other, unsure of what to say or do. There was a kid inside the object, and he just got the shock of his life... or so they thought. They had no idea of what he has been through already.

The captain of the Hagane raised an eyebrow, before opening a comm channel.** "Kushua, please bring the medical team in. It seems like they're humans... and I don't think Aerogaters or the Inspectors would squeal like that. Please take them to the Medical Ward."**

"**Okay." **came the reply from the speaker. A medical team with two stretchers entered the hangar, a blue-haired girl leading them. Meanwhile, the object was lowered, and the soldiers left the room, making space for the med team's work. The cutting laser had opened a wider hole in the entry plug, revealing the other occupant: a freckled girl, with two pigtails in her hair. While the girl had a simple, blue and white school uniform, the boy had a form fitting blue and white suit, with the numbers 01 in the chest.

"**Oh,"** said Excellen, a mischievous grin in her face, **"I wonder where he got that. It looks even better than a bunny suit, don't you think, Bullet?"**

The ATX pilot rolled his eyes, and images of Kushua clad in a similar suit came to his mind. A thin line of blood flowed down from his nose. He quickly wiped it clean, grumbling. **"Not funny."**

The blonde pilot looked now like the Cheshire Cat. Playfully, she ribbed the poor pilot. **"I didn't know you were in that sort of thing... do you have a whip and a mask already?"**

Bullet blushed like a tomato. **"What... What are you talking about?" **he asked.

Meanwhile, the medical team had already laid the foreigners into the stretchers and hauled them to the Medical Ward. The ATX team left the room, Excellen making sounds of a whip cracking, much to the chagrin of Bullet, that was palming his face by this time.

The purple haired man, however, stood behind, looking to the shape of the unidentified object. It took some time, but he finally got all the pieces together. He knew that shape from his time as a jumper. **"Ryoto, see if the first layer of the object can be removed. I think there's something beneath."**

The mechanic nodded, and ran some tests with the mechanical arm's laser. Using a lower power setting, the laser managed to remove the scorched surface coat, showing dull grey metal beneath. Nodding to himself affirmatively, Ryoto automated the process. **"Gilliam-san, the process will take some hours, but it is automatic. We can return later to see how it is progressing."**

Gilliam Yeager nodded.** "Understood. Well, let's see how fare our guests." **He exited the room with the mechanic, heading for the medical ward.

* * *

Shinji Ikari woke up, and the thought in his head was the same as always. **'This is an unfamiliar ceiling.' **He remembered some troops pointing rifles at him, and then he blacked out. A part of his mind hoped it was just a trick of his imagination, and he was just at another medical room at NERV.

Then, the memories of Third Impact hit him, and he screamed. Flashes of his memories came through his mind's eye. The MP Evas. Asuka's Unit 02. Lilith. The Sea of Souls. His... mother? The shout died in his throat, as the memories pieced themselves back together. The terror gave place to a strange feeling of peace.

Then, he saw a blue-haired nurse entering, along with a woman with green hair and clad also in green. He couldn't avoid to notice, with a blush, that she had a shape that surpassed Misato's.

"**You are awake. What happened?" **the nurse inquired, looking worried. The boy waved his hand dismissively**. "Just... a bad dream. Yeah, it was a bad dream, I'm better now. Where am I?"**

"**You are on board the battleship Hagane. We found you inside a strange object with the girl in the bed next to yours." **The green-haired beauty replied.

The Third Child looked to his left, and saw the sleeping face of Hikari Horaki.** "... Class Rep?" **He wanted to get up, but he felt his body heavy. **"I'm tired..."** he mumbled.

The nurse chuckled. Her mop of blue hair reminded him of Rei, only with a darker shade. **"You had a slight electrolyte imbalance and you must be very tired. Please rest for a bit. We'll talk to you when you're feeling better, okay?" **

Shinji sighed. **"Okay. Thanks, uh..." The nurse smiled. It was a kind, warm smile, 'Quite different from Rei's.'** he noted.

"**My name is Kushua, and this is Lamia. Pleased to meet you..."**

"**Shinji. My name's Shinji Ikari. Thank you, Kushua-san, Lamia-san."** he nodded to both women.

"**Okay then Shinji-san, rest for a bit now." **said Lamia, nodding to him. The boy smiled and nodded to her, before the women left and he laid his head in the pillow once again, resuming his ceiling stare.

"**An unfamiliar ceiling... but it doesn't look bad at all." **he whispered. Once again, his gaze turned to the sleeping girl at his side. Her face reflected her blissful sleep, a small smile in her face and a deep, even breathing. Shinji's mind drifted to his last moments after he left Lilith and his mother. **'So that's how it is going to be,'** he mused to himself. He noticed another thing, though. In his time as a pilot and his non-returned infatuation for the fiery German pilot, first, and then the shame of seeing one of his best friends killed in front of him, he never noticed Hikari's beauty. Her freckles and pigtails gave her a tomboyish look, yet she carried herself with the class of a lady. **'A perfect mix of youth and maturity... now, why am I thinking this? Must be the lack of rest.'** He allowed himself a thin smile, as he closed his eyes.

For the first time in many months, the azure-eyed boy experienced the blissful sleep of the innocent.

* * *

The briefing room was silent, as Gilliam Yeager updated them on new intel regarding the Bartools.

"**As you know,"** he started, **"last time, the ODE System stopped by itself, being unable to evolve. Unfortunately, HQ ordered us back, and we never found the main databases that could allow us to eradicate this threat. Unfortunately, our lack of foresight brought us a bigger problem: Analysis of Bartool wrecks show us that they are equipped with advanced computer systems."**

Kyosuke raised his hand. **"Advanced?"**

Gilliam frowned. **"It seems like they were able to emulate an organic architecture in a self-shaping matrix. That matrix... involves Machine Cells."**

The room gasped. The machine cells were unstable, easily creating mutations. The pilots that were in the final battle of the Earth Cradle still remembered what happened when the Cells ran out of control. The wrecked mechs raising again. In the mind of the former School students, the sacrifice of Ouka was well remembered.

The purple haired Major waited for some moments, before resuming his briefing. **"The current evolution potential for the enemy forces is... unknown. We suspect it may be endless. I've spoken with Commander Laker and he pulled some strings in the HQ to assign us to the sole duty of hunting down this threat. From here on, our main objectives are simple: eradicate all and any signs of Bartool units of production plants. Any questions?"**

No one answered. The orders were clear enough. The Major nodded. **"Very well, dismissed. Lieutenant Kyosuke, please stay, we would like to talk to you."**

The ATX pilot waited until everybody left the room, before voicing his question.** "We?"**

The answer came by the voice of a moustached man. **"Yes, we. Ryoto, myself and Gilliam have been working on another Gespenst model, based on the units from the Halloween plan." **He inserted a data drive in the computer, and blueprints of a Gespenst appeared on the view screen. He handed Kyosuke a data sheet with the model specifications.

The pilot of the Riese was intrigued. **"A Gespenst with Huckebein weaponry? Major Kai, this is a strange project, to say the least."**

Kai Kitamura shrugged. **"Well, Dr. Radom gave us a thumbs up about it. The new Gespenst shares some aspects from the Type-S, too."** He pointed to the blueprints. The robot had a built in Tesla drive, a set of wings like Gilliam's Gespenst Type RV, and a pair of containers in its back.

Kyosuke looked again at the sheet. According to it, containers held Slash Rippers and Fang Slashers, Its chest had the Type-S chest blaster mounted, and the Plasma Stakes were in the left arm, as usual. The strangest thing was the presence of two more sets of retractable Plasma Stakes... mounted on the tips of the feet.

Kyosuke read the last part twice. **"Wait. Stakes on the feet?"**

Kai laughed.** "Well, we thought about giving a small boost to the Gespenst Kick. It will be like a Jet Magnum Kick. The two sets of stakes are there so you can hit with the leg that's more convenient. It is a wild card, since overuse of the stakes can damage the foot servos."**

The Lieutenant smirked. **"That's a high bet. Still, that does not explain why you needed me."**

"**Well," **said Gilliam, **"you tested the Wildraubtier, and you have experience in handling most of the currently used mechs, so we wondered if you could test it before we officially start its trials..."**

The ATX ace nodded.** "I see. Count me in. It should be interesting."**

**

* * *

**

"**Hmm. I'm bored. What are we waiting for, Seolla?"**

The white-haired Aggressor rolled her eyes. **"You're asking that of the tenth time in the last hour. I told you already, we're on standby!"**

Arado Balanga snickered.** "I know that. I'm just bored, and I need something to do."** He was promptly whacked in the head by an angry Seolla. **"Ooow. Sorry!"**

"**If you don't have anything better to do, go for a training session in the simulator, you're still sloppy sometimes, and..." **she suddenly fell silent, as she noticed what she was about to say.

The boy looked amused.** "And... ?" **This time, the whack made him fell down from his chair. He could get a pretty good view of Seolla's underwear from his current position, but he decided against it. The last time he did that, he still remembered the pain.

"**And nothing! Just..."** the female pilot got cut off as Excellen entered the room.

"**Oh, the two lovebirds here alone?"** she joked as she winked at them. The teenagers blushed as they looked away from each other, embarrassed. **"Oh, you blush like Bullet, looks like I have some new targets!"**

"**Come on Excellen, I thought Bullet was enough for you."**

The blonde turned, finding Kyosuke smiling and holding two mugs. He gave one to Excellen that smelled the tea inside.** "Hmm, my favourite. Thanks. I thought you would forget, after staying behind with Gilliam-san."**

Kyosuke gave her one of his special smiles.** "I assumed you though higher of me. By the way, the boy woke up and seems willing to talk. You want to meet him?"**

Arado and Seolla nodded, and Excellen grabber her boyfriend's arm. **"What are we waiting for?"**

**

* * *

**

Shinji sat on the side of a bed, after trading his hospital pyjamas for a white sweatshirt and black pants, his usual, if somewhat dull attire. After talking for a bit with a purple haired man, Shinji decided to meet the other pilots and the Captain, to explain his story.

Now, he was starting to regret his decision. He and the pilots filled a vacant room in the ward and all of them looked eager to hear his tale.

Seeing the boy's silence, Lamia decided to take the initiative. **"You can relax, it's not like we're here to harm you." **she placed a hand in Shinji's shoulder, and gave a tight squeeze, being rewarded with a thankful smile.

Clearing his voice, the Third Child introduced himself. **"Hello, I'm Shinji Ikari."** he noted the Gilliam's brow rising. **"I come from... I don't know any more where I come from. This is Earth, yet I came from another Earth that looks similar, at least according to pre-Impact maps."**

A blond, handsome man raised an eyebrow **"Pleased to meet you Shinji. My name is Raidiese. I must ask you: What is this 'Impact' you talk about?"**

Shinji took a deep breath, but Gilliam was the one who talked. **"Sorry to interrupt your tale, but I can answer that question. As you know, I travelled through dimensions. One of those dimensions was the place of a cataclysmic event called 'Second Impact', caused by an experiment with an extraterrestrial being that went wrong. In an effort to minimize the damage, an artefact was used, avoiding the annihilation of life in that Earth, but razing half of the planet. It turns out that there were more of those aliens, whose objective was to merge with the first one, eradicating life on Earth. To face them, humanoid battle weapons were created."**

Seeing the incredulous face of the pilots, and the pained look in Shinji's face, he knew he got the whole thing right.** "I knew your mother, Yui Ikari. In fact, you may not remember it, but I was there in that fateful day. But that's another story. Please, tell us what happened next."**

Shinji gasped. No wonder the face struck him as faintly familiar. Still, he had to keep on.** "That incident... my mother was absorbed into one of those machines. It turned out they needed a human soul to work, and my mother decided to sacrifice herself for my future. It went wrong. My father left me, only to call me again ten years later. He didn't want to apologize, though. He forced me into the accursed machine that got my mother, blackmailing me by threatening to send an injured pilot in my place. I did as he wished, partly because I wanted his approval. The object where we were, it used to be the cockpit of my unit."**

He lowered in head in shame. **"There were three pilots, and we managed to destroy the alien beings. We called them Angels." **By this time, the boy's eyes were full of tears. **"My father... he did horrible things. I saw one of my best friends being killed in front of me. In the end, we were attacked by the government, and my father played his last card, causing a different kind of Third Impact."**

He paused for a moment, feeling the pain of the spears of the MP Evas, and the sight of Toji's crushed Entry Plug.** "It is hard to explain, but in short, the power of deciding the fate of mankind was in the hands of one person. I was that person, and decided to restore humanity. I also found out that humanity also originated from an Angel, although that one did not want to destroy us. It was that angel - Lilith – that sent me and my friend to this place. The rest... well, the rest you know better than me."**

Chuckling darkly, Shinji spoke again, in a bitter voice.** "Quite ironic. I fought to save Humanity, but the greatest enemy was my own father."**

The end of his tale was met with silence. Everybody could see the path that kid walked, and no one envied him. Lamia, feeling sympathy for the azure-eyed pilot, was the fist to break the ice. **" You have gone through a lot, I see. What will you do now?"**

The Third Child faced the green-eyed cyborg.** "Lilith said there was a place somewhere meant for me. I told her I would find my own paradise, and she helped me with the first step. I will stay here and seek my place."**

The green-eyed beauty couldn't help but think of her words when she left the Shadow-Mirrors. Now, she saw someone else looking for the same thing as her. **"I understand. I can't speak for everybody, but I'd like to welcome you." **

The other pilots looked at each other, then at the boy sitting on the bed. Their answer was unanimous:** "Welcome, Shinji Ikari."**

**

* * *

**

**STAGE 2: COMPLETE!**

**So... here you go. Stay tuned for more updates, review if you want, beta readers are welcome, as is constructive criticism.  
**

**See ya!**


	3. Meet the Hagane

**Disclaimer still applies.**

**Whew, this one was a tough cookie. I'd rather write fighting scenes.**

**STAGE 3: START!**

* * *

Horaki Hikari woke up, only to find herself in some kind of infirmary. She stared at the pristine whiteness of the ceiling, wondering what happened. Last thing she remembered, everything went dark in her world.

"**Finally, you're awake!" **the freckled girl turned her head, only to see a blue haired nurse and, to her surprise, Shinji Ikari right next to her.

"**Shinji? Where are we? What happened?" **she blinked in confusion. She did not recall any hospital that looked like this, and Shinji sure had more to do than to visit her in the hospital. Toji, on the other hand... she shook that musing out of her head. The jock was gone, killed in that damn test. She closed her eyes shut, trying to find the heart to banish those sad thoughts. It was like her mother's death all over again. She couldn't let the memories win.

"**We're... still on Earth... but not our Earth." **Shinji answered, unsure of where to start. **'Yeah, right, because there's a simple way to say that she has been teleported to somewhere else, won't be able to see her family again, and I'm partially responsible for this mess. Congratulations Ikari, you screwed another person's life, AGAIN!'**, he though, a grimace in his face.

Hikari frowned at the pilots facial expression. **"Shinji, what's wrong? And what do you mean, 'not our Earth'?" **something happened, she could tell that, and considering the azure-eyes boy's face, it wasn't pleasant.

Kushua looked into both teenagers. There was some explaining to do. **"Ahem, I will be waiting outside. I'm sure you'll want to explain the situation in private."**

The pigtailed girl blushed. She, in a room with a boy, ALONE? That wasn't acceptable. She was about to ask the blue-haired nurse to say, but Shinji was faster.

"**Kushua-san, please stay. I think I'll need someone to help me explain the last part of the story."** Shinji feared Hikari's reaction. While she wasn't as explosive as the German redhead, he knew there was a reason for her being the Class Representative.

"**Oh, all right then, Shinji-san." **The nurse nodded. He was right, she could explain the last part of the story better than him.

The pilot sighed. **"Class rep... it all starts with Third Impact. No, wait, it starts before that. The Angels that attacked Tokyo-3... they were after something. Something that would cause their Third Impact. As you know, they all died. Then... it all went downhill. NERV was attacked... we found out that there were people that wished to begin the Third Impact... One of them was my father. He did it. When the base was attacked... there were other Evas... they attacked Asuka... ripped her apart before I could do something..."**

"**You mean Asuka...?"** Hikari interrupted him, utterly shocked.

He chose to ignore her for the time being. **"... but that doesn't matter any more. Short version of the Third Impact is that my father managed to awake an Angel that was sealed in NERV, and the souls of the whole Humanity were freed from their bodies. During Impact, though, they used Unit-01... and I ended up having a word regarding Humanity's fate. I chose to make things return to what they were before. According to what was said to me back then, everybody that died after the beginning of the attack was able to return. The others..." **he closed his eye shut, before speaking again,** "...moved on. The Angel sealed in NERV turned out to be the creator of mankind and she... decided it was ****better for me to go somewhere else, instead to returning like all others. That's why I'm here, and that's my biggest question mark. I don't see any reason for her to send you with me here..."**

The class rep raised an eyebrow. **"I don't understand it too, Shinji... is there any way to go back?"**

Shinji remained silent. She nodded, understanding the situation. **"I see... Could you please leave me alone? I need some time to think..."**

The boy grimaced, feeling even more pained for the girl's fate. **"Hikari... I'm sorry," **he said as he left the room with Kushua.

Seeing them leave, the girl brought her knees to her chest, grabbed the pillow, and cried. There was no going back for her, and she, unlike the boy, had no real motives to stay here. What would be of her sisters? They would certainly be lost without her. Sure, her older sister was capable of looking after their family... if only she wasn't always with her head on the clouds. She tried to calm herself down. **'There's nothing I can do...'** she told to herself. **'I guess the only thing left is to live on... but how?'**

**

* * *

  
**

The boy and the nurse walked slowly back to the common room. Shinji was frowning since he left to medical room, and that was noticed by Kai, who was enjoying a break between simulation training with Arado. **"Hey kid, what's the matter?"**

The blue-eyed boy looked to the Aggressor, trying to place a name in his face. **"Ah... Kitamura-san. It's nothing important, just some thoughts on my head."**

Kai nodded. **"I see. Want to talk about it? I'm having another simulation soon, but I still can spare some time for you."**

The boy sat in a chair, **"I don't want to bother you. Besides, it's not that serious, I guess."**

"**It's your decision. If you decide to talk, I'll be around." **the older man said, getting a drink form a nearby vending machine. Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. **"Say, would you be interested in checking out one of our simulator training sessions?"**

Shinji fiddled with his thumbs, thinking for a moment. **"I don't want to bother you, sir."**

The Major shook his head.** "Please, don't say that. I don't mind you watching, usually we always have someone watching us train."**

Shinji rose from his chair, looking to the moustached man.** "Okay then, I guess I'll accept your invitation."**

"**That's the spirit kid! Follow me!" **Kai turned and left the room, Shinji following his energetic stride through the corridors of the Hagane.

When the boy entered the Simulation room, his jaw opened. The far wall had several cockpits with motion emulation systems, allowing the pilots to have a good feel of the real mech. The rest of the space was filled with tables and chairs, as well as some big screens, designed to allow other people to watch the simulation. Shinji recognized the brown-haired mechanic, Ryoto Hikawa, as well as Kai's trainee, Arado Balanga. Latooni, the purple-haired, cutely-dressed girl was also there. She was the first to notice the newcomer.

"**Shinji-san! You decided to check out on us?" **the girl asked as she greeted him with a polite bow.

The boy scratched the back of his head, as he gave an embarrassed smile to the occupants. **"Actually, Kitamura-san invited me. I was planning to spend some time in the common room."**

Arado lifted an eyebrow. **"What were you planning to do there?" **he inquired.** "Everybody except the Aggressors are on patrol. The room can get awfully quiet at times like that." **

"**I was planning... to stay there and think for a while." **the Third Child replied, his concern clear in his tense body language.

"**Being alone immersed in sadness is not healthy, Shinji-san."** noted Ryoto **"I think Major Kai had a good idea, bringing you here."**

Kai smirked, and looked to his wristwatch. **"Okay, break's over. Arado, jump in!"**

The purple haired boy nodded, and walked to the second simulation cockpit. Latooni entered the third one.** "Major Kai asked me to help him in this simulation. Besides, Ryoto asked me to help him collect some data to improve the simulator." **she stated, noticing Arado's intrigued look.

The boy nodded, as he entered the capsule and the door closed with a hiss. The view screens flickered to life, as the three Aggressors prepared to start the training combat.

* * *

Everybody needed to eat sometime, and Hikari was no exception to the rule. As she absent-mindedly sneaked out of the room and took a snack from a vending machine, she didn't notice the two girls looking at her.

She jumped in shock as she heard a voice call out. **"You should eat something healthier, you know?"**

As she turned to see who talked, another voice, this time closer to her. **"Don't scare her like that, Rio."**

The freckled girl jumped in shock again.** "Ahh!" **she shrieked, to the amusement of the two girls.

"**Calm down,"** said the second girl. **"I guess you are the other jumper, right?"**

Hikari noticed the girl had short, red hair, and was dressed in a blue uniform. **"Jumper? I don't understand what you're talking about, could you explain it to me, please?"**

"**Oh, sorry." **the girl apologized. **"You are the girl that came with Shinji, right? According to Major Gilliam, you jumped through dimensions, just like him. That's why I called you that, although I'd rather treat you by your name. I'm Mai Kobayashi, pleased to meet you. Over there is Rio"** she said, pointing to a black-haired girl, that waved at Hikari.

The former Class Representative nodded. **"Pleased to meet you. I'm Hikari Horaki."**

Rio approached the girls, studying the pigtailed girl.** "You don't look so bright. Are you okay?"**

Hikari managed to give a thin smile. **"Yeah, just a bit homesick. This was too sudden for me." **The girls looked trustworthy to her, and she relaxed the shoulders that she never noticed she had tensed. She almost regretted her judgement when she noticed the mischievous glint in Rio's eye.

The Hagane operator smirked. **"Hmm. I've got an idea. How about coming with us? I'm sure you could use some clothes besides the pajamas you're wearing right now."**

Hikari noticed the truth in her words. In her state of mind, she completely forgot to ask for some other clothes. Her hair was also a mess, and her eyes betrayed the fact that she had cried recently. Her smile widened. **"Yeah, I guess so. I kind of forgot to ask for some clothes..."**

The rest of her words were cut off as Mai and Rio grabbed her by the arms and guided her to the women area, giggling. **"Come on, you're the next subject of Rio and Mai's Beauty Salon!"**

Hikari shuddered. Their playful tone of voice did not bode well, she thought. **'Then again, I may be wrong. And refusing would look rude, too.' **she considered, letting the giggling girls haul her.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryoto and Shinji were watching the three pilots going into a full blown 3-way brawl. They started as a fairly tame exercise, some manoeuvring and shooting flying mechs. The EVA pilot asked his fellow mechanic what were those flying oddities, and learned they were Lions. He noticed they were quite agile, but their weaponry, save for the Railgun that took the place of one of their arms, was fairly lightweight.

The mechs targeted Arado, and the poor pilot was tasked by Kai to defeat them with minimal damage. Through some stomach-turning stunts, the former School pilot managed to slice his foes in bits, using his close-range weapons in fairly unorthodox ways for a EFA pilot, but quite natural for Shinji. After all, he spent all his short career improvising with his EVA's prog knife.

Then, Kai decided training was over, and narrowly missed Arado with his Jet Magnum S. Latooni decided to gift them some of her Rectangular Launcher rounds. From their chat, Shinji could understand they saw this as their concept of "having a good time". That puzzled him.

Ryoto turned his gaze form the screen for a second, and noticed the newcomer's expression. **"Don't mind the brawl, the usually do that in their free time. It's their way to relax from the daily duties." **He turned his gaze back to the screen as Arado replied the goth pilot's kindness with his Triple Vulcan. The mass-produced Huckebein she was piloting dodged the attack swiftly, and drew the Photon Rifle.

"**Uh-oh,"** whispered the purple-haired boy. He hated long-range engagements, and Latooni knew his strength lied in short range combat. He felt his cockpit shudder, emulating the damage his Wildwurger was starting to suffer. The Jacket Armor was scorched in some places, and in others it was already missing. Luckily, she didn't manage to score a direct hit to the middle of his chest area, where the cockpit should be, else he's be out of combat already.

What he didn't notice, though, was Kai grabbing the back of the Wurger's neck and throwing it to the ground, where it stood, head crushed from the impact. Arado was out of the scene.

"**Ha!"** Kai snickered. **"You've still got to start paying attention to your surroundings here in the simulator! Just because it isn't real, that does not men one cannot sneak on you from behind!"**

The younger Aggressor sighed as he left his simulator.** "Yes sir... I guess I'll have even more ****training after this blunder..."**

"**You can bet on that, young man! Twenty laps as punishment. And you better start now! Ryoto, count the laps, please!" **Kai ordered, as he dodged a shot from Latooni's rifle.

Shinji sweat-dropped. **"That's a bit harsh, no? He just missed a small detail, and it was only in the simulator."**

Ryoto grinned.** "He is called the 'Demon Instructor'. I guess you now understand why. He's a bit hard, but his apprentices learn fast." **He lowered his voice to a whisper.** "Lieutenant Katina from Octo Squad can be worse."**

"**Lieutenant who?" **Shinji asked. He never heard that name before.

Ryoto slapped his forehead.** "Sorry, I forgot you didn't knew Octo Team yet. They're a PT group assigned to the Hiryu, another battleship from the EFA."**

At last, Latooni's mech managed to stab its Beam Sword in Kai's Gespenst cockpit block, defeating him and ending the simulation battle.

As they left the cockpit, Kai shook his head. **"Good work there. You got me with my guard down."**

The girl shook her head. **"You still have the highest victory count, Major."**

The elder Aggressor nodded. **"Indeed. But you kids will catch up to me someday. Just don't start thinking I'll go easy on you."** Turning to Shinji, the man asked.** "So, what do you think?"**

The boy scratched the back of his head.** "Well, I've never seen such piloting before. I doubt I could pull that when..." **his voice wandered off as his expression became darker. He felt a hand resting on his shoulder, and saw the sympathetic looks on everybody's faces. **"I apologize. I shouldn't get so bound to the past, I guess."**

Kai nodded.** "Right. But now... Arado, finish that lap and let's get something to eat in the mess hall!"**

The purple-haired nodded and sprinted, passing through the line marked on the floor that indicated the start of the training track the pilots used. If there was a thing that moved him faster, it was food. And something else, although he never admitted it to anybody save for his School friends.

Hearing Kai talk about food made Shinji's brain go overdrive, and idea coming to his mind. It sounded a good way to him to return the pilot's hospitality. He would cook them something. He would be on his home field, and when it comes to cooking, nobody speaks poorly of him.

* * *

The girls room was a mess. Normally, Hikari would be horrified at their lack of organization, but she was having too much fun. Rio turned out to have a knack for hairstyling, and tried to give her a new hairstyle. Her hair was now stretched, falling to her shoulders instead of the ever-present pigtails she sported back in Tokyo-3.

**'It actually looks good!'** she thought, wondered with the Hagane operator's job. Mai had brought her already some clothes, and now she was clad in a blouse and a jumper dress with the color scheme of the SRX Team. She checked her reflection in the mirror. The dress went all the way to the knees, and it felt very comfortable.

Rio giggled. **"You adopted her to the SRX Team quite fast, didn't you Mai?"**

The redhead blushed in embarrassment. **"Well, It seemed to me it should look good on her. She does look sharp. I guess you were meant to look best in a uniform, Hikari."**

"**Thank you..." **Hikari said, before her stomach decided to growl in a way unfit for a lady. She blushed, as the other girls laughed.

"**Don't say a thing, you must be hungry, right?"** seeing the freckled girl nod, Rio and Mai grabbed her by the arms again and left the room with her. **"Come on, let's get something to eat!"**

**

* * *

  
**

So far, things went smoothly for the boy. The cook seemed sceptical at first, but he was astonished to see Shinji's expertise in the kitchen, as he made some sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. **"Damn. You sure know about the trade, son. Who taught you that?"**

The boy kept slicing a tomato as he answered. **"I lived with my uncle and aunt for some years, and taught me some basics of cooking. After that, I just decided to learn by myself." **He then disposed the pieces of tomato in a slice of bread, added a paste made of mayonnaise, slices of carrot and tiny bits of cooked chicken, and finished the filling with a leaf of lettuce, before putting another slice of bread on the top of it. **"Besides, I figured that since everybody here accepted me so easily, I should thank them. This is the best way I can think of." **he simply stated, before grabbing the plates with the sandwiches. **"There, all done. Thank you for letting me use the kitchen, Mr. Wasabi."**

The cook waved as he helped Shinji.** "No problems kid. Be free to use the kitchen whenever you want. You sure have the talent." **He smirked.** 'Maybe as talented as Ratsel-sama.' "Hey, you told them you'd be cooking?"**

He smiled as he saw the boy shook his head in denial.** "Good. Go through the back door and meet them in the room. Let's surprise them with your skills."**

Shinji smiled, as he left the apron in a chair's rest and got out of the kitchen using the back door. In a quick but silent stride, he walked the corridors into the dining room cautiously, checking out for anyone that might see him. Sighing in relief, he finally reached the room's door. He took a deep breath and tried to keep a normal expression, before opening it.

The room was already full. The other EFA teams had arrived already from the patrol, and were currently taking a break. With a gasp, the blue-eyed teenager noticed that Captain Tetsuya was there as well. **'Good thing that I made food thinking in the whole group.'** he mused, as his gaze fixed on a familiar freckled girl. **'Wow. She really looks cute. Aaaah, she caught me staring!' **he mentally panicked, just to calm down in the next moment, noticing she was inviting him to join her and the other girls.

The freckled girl was relieved to see Shinji. She had been thinking in his sudden change of mood once he gave her the news, and felt responsible for making him seem so sad. **"Glad you could join us, Shinji." **The boy managed to show a half-hearted smile that made the pain in her heart grow. **"Listen, Shinji..."**

She never managed to finish that sentence.

"**Class Rep, I'm sorry for dragging you to this situation."** the boy whispered just loud enough for her to hear. He was unable to look at the girl in the eye, and expecting her to hate him. Her hand in his shoulder surprised him, breaking the hold that self-loathing kept in his mind.

"**Shinji... don't apologize. You are as innocent as me in all this. I know better than to blame you." **she stated in a soft voice, noticing his head lifting like he had been carrying a heavy burden. She smiled at the boy as she grabbed a sandwich and took a bite. Her eyes widened as the sandwich taste was processed by her brain.

Silence fell upon the room. For nearly a minute, all the people inside looked at each other, too impressed for words.

Tetsuya was the first to break the silence. He swallowed the bit of the sandwich he had in his mouth, and took a sip of water. **"Chief Wasabi, this is... magnificent!" **

The kitchen Chef smirked. **"I know. The one that made the meal,"** he made a small gesture with his head, indicating the former EVA-pilot, **"allowed me to have a sample."**

All heads turned to the boy. He suddenly had the strange urge to hide in the closest hole, as he felt the gaze of too many people. A nod from Kyosuke, then another from Kai. When he noticed, he was the target of all eye blinks and thumbs up.

Hikari leaned close to his ear. **"Good to see you haven't lost your touch, Shinji." **She giggled as the boy's cheeks took the tone of a ripe tomato, as the other people praised his culinary skill.

"**I wonder who this Mr. Ratsel is, though." **he wondered, resting his back against the chair, feeling happy and useful, for a change.

Lilith's words came to his mind. Maybe she was right after all. Maybe there was a place for him... and that place might me the Hagane. While he still had the same fears, he also felt a genuine wave of kindness from everybody. He duly noted Excellen was trying to tease him, regarding his culinary skills, and felt his cheeks red hot again. **'Some things may never change.' **The traveller mused, checking out Hikari talking and laughing with Mai, as Rio was resting against Ryoto, hearing the whole conversation.

He let out a fond sigh, before reaching his conclusion. **'But I guess I can live with that.'**

**

* * *

**

**STAGE 3: COMPLETE!**

**So, yeah. I'm too socially inept to write one of these chapters. There's still much road to cover, though. Read and Review, constructive criticism is the key to improvement.**

**Sayonara!**


	4. Murphy's Law

**Disclaimer still applies.**

**And here I am, after a long vacation from writing. College, then resting from college delayed this chapter, but it is done, at last.**

**STAGE 4: START!**

**

* * *

**

The Hagane's briefing room was completely silent, save for the occasional scratch of a pencil in the paper or the student's grows of frustration.

Shinji was rubbing his eyes, trying to make sense of the set of equations he had to solve for today's test. So far, he managed to do the first steps, but he was at a loss about what to do now. Hikari, on the other hand, was progressing, slowly but steadily. That particular set of equations was something they only learned after Gilliam Yeager started his part of the tutoring to the newcomers. It wasn't very hard, but it took a bit of effort to find all the needed steps.

Latooni, Seolla and Arado were also doing a test, although their equations were a lot more advances, due to their previous training at The School. All three were progressing steadily, despite the occasional mistake. Arado was the one who had the strangest behaviour, chewing the tip of his pencil and staring at the exercises, like he was expecting them to solve by themselves or burn to cinders. From time to time, he would write some steps of the resolution, then he resumed his staring at the original equations.

Of course, all of this was noticed by Gilliam, that chuckled mentally at Arado's actions. He could see he was solving the equation correctly, but the way he kept staring at the original equation made him look like he never saw that kind of thing before.

Finally, and after another long hour of growls and writing, the test was over, and Gilliam took the results for grading with him. His students, tired after almost two hours dealing with derivatives and unknown numbers, sighed in relief and decided to chill for a bit in the common room.

**"So, Arado,"** asked Latooni, **"how did your test go? I noticed for a few times you were looking at it with a serious face..."**

**"It went very well,"** the purple-haired boy said, before shrugging, **"despite the fact I kept writing the t's as x's. It was really starting to get on my nerves. What?"** He asked, seeing the astonished expressions of the other children, **"I'm used to solve equations with x!"**

**"Ah, I see,"** said Seolla, trying to suppress a laughter at Arado's expense. **"Anyway, my test went all right, I guess. I think I did some unnecessary things, there were some steps that could be bypassed. What about you, Latooni? Good as always?"**

The girl in the frilly dress nodded. **"It went without any significant flaws. Shinji, Hikari, what about you? I also noticed you were having some problems there."**

Shinji frowned. **"I lost too much time. I had a blank while solving an equation, and lost too much time there. I wasn't able to even start the last one when Yeager-san said time was up."**

Hikari put a hand over the boy's shoulder and squeezed slightly. **"Don't worry, I'm sure you were able to do good in the rest of the test."** Then, her face and tone went in Class Rep mode. **"Also, the Major would scold you if he caught you referring to him like that. You know everybody asked us to drop the usual honorifics."**

The azure-eyed boy winced. **"Sorry, Class- uh I mean, Hikari."**

The freckled girl smiled at him. **"Good. Now let's rest for a bit. I'm exhausted and we still have one hour before the next class."**

**

* * *

**

Meanwhile, on thebow of the EFA battleship, a Gespenst clad in the dark blue colour of a test model was waiting for its first operational test.

**"Okay Kyosuke, everything is green on our side, you may start the test when you want. Decoys are deployed."**

**"Roger that, Major Kai, starting the test now."** Kyosuke replied, before powering the Tesla Drive and activating the main thrusters. The Gespenst rose from the Hagane's bow and started manoeuvring in the direction of the AI controlled Waldung tanks and mass-produced Huckebeins . Either side was way beyond engagement range, so the ATX pilot took the opportunity to test the manoeuvrability of the prototype unit.

**"So, How does it feel, Lieutenant?"** asked Ryoto, observing the pilot doing a feit to the right and then boosting to the left side of an imaginary enemy.

**"It is no Weissritter, but it looks like it can outperform a Huckebein in mobility. This frame is pretty sturdy, too, so I guess it is very good."** the test pilot mused. **"Weapon systems show all green here. We may start the weapons test any time you want."**

Ryoto turned to Kai and nodded. **"Readings here show no problems in mobility, and the results are what we expected."**

**"Okay,"** the older pilot replied, **"Kyosuke, you may engage the targets any time you want."**

**"Roger that. Engaging targets."** The Gespenst moved towards the decoys, grabbing an M90 assault rifle in the process and aiming at the lead Huckebein. The Huckebein moved away, and let loose a long burst of paint rounds from its head vulcan cannons.

Kyosuke pulled the control stick, and the Gespenst did a hard turn to the left, while the pilot used the manoeuvring thrusters to get the enemy on his crosshairs.

When he pulled the trigger, all hell broke loose.

**"Major, we lost the decoy's control signal! They are moving on their own!"** Ryoto's eyes were now glued at the screen, seeing the targeted Huckebein dodge easily Kyosuke's rifle burst, before replying with another head vulcan burst. **"This is impossible,"** he said, **"the decoys managed to bypass the systems lock on the rest of the weaponry!"**

**"This is no regular enemy, Ryoto."** Major Kitamura said, seeing Kyosuke narrowly dodging the bullets coming from the decoy Huckebeins. **"We can assume the decoys were taken over by the ODE System. Sound the alarm."**

**"What? But there are no machine cell signatures... you mean they can hack their way into the mechs from a distance? They could have controlled the Gespenst just as easily, then."** the technician frowned at the implications of that, before accessing the decoy's logs. Checking the data, ha managed to notice they controlled the AI system installed in the mechs. Relieved, he pressed the alarm switch. **"Attention all pilots, we have a ODE raid. Deploy ASAP."**

Kai was reading that data as well. **"So, since it is safe to engage them... Ryoto, I'm deploying too. See if you can find the location of the hacker, please."**

**"Roger that, Major. I'll contact you if I find it nearby."**

Meanwhile, Kyosuke was holding his ground against the opponents. One of the Huckebeins was already damaged, with the left part of it's head torn off from a lucky burst. Other met its demise when it failed to predict a two-pronged attack from the Slash Rippers, blossoming in a ball of flames and debris.

Still, that wasn't enough. The remaining enemies had already scorched the Gespenst's armor in multiple places, and the left leg was literally hanging by a thread. Inside the cockpit, Kyosuke pulled the control stick to the left, flying his Gespenst out of the path of another beam shot.

**'Where did they get their weapons?'** he wondered. The rifles carried initially by the test dummies were converted to shoot paint rounds only, but they seemed to have discarded those, acquiring a new kind of rifle that could be described as a box with a handle and a trigger on one side, a large caliber barrel coming out from the other, and another cylinder below the barrel. The ATX pilot could swear those weapons were based on the Weissritter's Ochstan Launcher. If so, he knew how to dodge what came out of the lower barrel.

Or so he thought. The sudden boost of one of the Huckebeins could be easily avoided by the expert pilot, but he was caught off-guard by the sudden revelation that the second barrel was not a barrel at all. It was a beam saber's hilt. The impromptu bayonet sliced the left arm of the Gespenst clearly, and the second strike would be a direct hit to the cockpit, if not for the pilot recovering quickly from the surprise. Still, a deep slash could be seen in the cockpit block's armor. Meanwhile, the Huckebein kept his offensive, making the EFA pilot focus entirely on the threat immediately before him.

**'Hmm? Where are the other-'** the pilot's thought was suddenly interrupted, as two other Huckebeins scored solid hits on the back and left flank of the prototype unit, knocking it out of the sky, crippling the unit and damaging the pilot's core block.

In the Weissritter, Excellen Brownin gasped. **"Kysouke!"** she called through the comm channel. No answer. **"Kyosuke... come on, not again!"**

Once more, silence answered her queries.

**"I'm sure he is all right, he had the devil's luck. But to get him back, we need to take them out!"** Ryusei answered, accelerating the R-Wing. **"MAXIMUM FIREPOWER!"**

To the EFA pilots, that tactic was hardly surprising, considering who used it, but for the ODE system, it was a potential threat. Thus, the controlled Huckebeins moved to avoid the random placed shots, ignoring the blatant diversion manoeuvre, and making themselves targets of the wrath of a pissed-off Excellen. The first one was right above the white knight, receiving a slug from the laucher right in the middle of the legs. The slug ripped metal and composite apart until it came out through the head, right before the unlucky mech exploded, bathing the EFA sniper's mech in tones of red and yellow.

Meanwhile, Rai and Aya were taking care of the unlucky Waldungs, that were missing shots since the beginning of the battle. Rai shot his Hi-Zol Launcher to the ground immediately in the front of one of the tanks, making it fly through the air like a rag doll, before finally landing with an explosion... right on top of another tank. Aya, on the other hand, was peppering the outdated models with micro missile fire. The ones that managed to escape the little devils met the sharpness of the R-3P Strike Shields. The Waldungs did not last 30 seconds against the two SRX Team pilots.

The Huckebeins, on the other hand, were still holding on, despite another loss from Ryusei's 'maximum firepower'. Turned out the ODE-controlled unit decided the Weissritter was a primary threat, forgetting there was another person firing at random. For that mistake, it ended up having a bullet breaching the fusion reactor, providing another session of fireworks to the other combatants. Still, there were 5 Huckebeins left.

Arado and Seolla, taking advantage of their agility, were literally running circles around one of the enemies, peppering it with rifle shots, while Viletta took her time to deliver a pinpoint accurate burst from the R-Gun's Hi-Twin Launchers. The shot went right through the mech, and ripped the arm of another one, that happened to be dodging from Major Yeager's attack. The former Intelligence officer smiled, as his mech grabbed the plasma cutter and sliced the damaged Huckebein's torso, bisecting the infested unit.

Kai and Latooni teamed up to take on another of the hacked units. The Wildraubtier kept the enemy's head down, firing the Hyper Beam Rifle as fast as possible, while Kai searched for an opening. Finally, the moment came, and Kai overrode the controls to do a textbook judo throw on the hapless enemy, before finishing the job with a crushing plasma-powered punch to the torso. The green mech lifted its optics from the smoking hole on the chest of the fallen enemy, observing how fared the remaining two foes. Inside the cockpit, Kai winced as Bullet's Grungust and Lamia's Angelg pulled the limbs of another Huckebein, reducing the unit to a floating torso and head. Latooni took that as an invitation, and finished the PT with a shot to the reactor, applying Lavoisier's law to mech combats: An enemy mech is transformed into a mass of debris and fire. Nothing is gained and nothing is lost.

**"One to go,"** coldly stated Viletta, transforming the last one into a mass of charred metal. **"Make that zero."**

**"Roger that,"** answered Kai. **"Bullet, recover Kyosuke and the Gespenst and take them to the hangar ASAP, I've already requested an emergency medical team."**

**"Yes sir,"** the young pilot replied, as he cautiously grabbed the wreck of the prototype and lifted off in the direction of the Hagane hangar bay.

* * *

Hours later, the pilots were walking in circles in the waiting room of the infirmary. Kyosuke had been immediately taken to the operations table, and the time the surgery was taking was leaving everyone on the edge. The cockpit, they remembered, was red with his blood, and the face of some of the mechanics who saw the wreck made everybody fear the worse.

Excellen was leaning against the wall,and the only thing keeping her from blitzing into the operation's room was Lamia's strong grip on her arm. The W-series cyborg was keeping a stern facade, but she was as worried as everyone else about the welfare of the pilot that never gives up on his promises.

Finally, a doctor came out of the room. Excellen immediately advanced, surrounded by the other pilots. **"So, how's Kyosuke?"** she asked with a low voice.

The medic gave a reassuring smile.** "Lieutenant Nanbu is very lucky. He lost a lot of blood, and had a lot of metal shards in him, but none of them managed to injury critically any organ. He's asleep now, and he will need to rest for the next month. After that, I estimate he will need two months to return to active duty, so his body can prepare for the strain of piloting the Alteisen."**

The pilots sighed in relief. It looked like the ATX pilot's legendary luck saved him once again. Still, this was the worse injury he ever had, being much worse than the whole combat against Axel Almer. Excellen sat on the couch, exhausted and with tears trainling her face, yet happy that her boyfriend was alive and would eventually return to the kicking part.

* * *

A few moments later, the three minds of the new prototype project looked sadly at the wrecks of the modified Gespenst. While the test had been successful, the wrecking of the prototype gave only two options for the project: Restarting, or putting the whole stuff in a locked drawer.

**"At least the Lieutenant is all right,"** said Ryoto, frowning. **"If we do this again, I suggest we increase the armor protection on the cockpit block. It seems obvious the regular armor protection won't do for the prototype."**

Gilliam sighed. **"There's no way the EFA would help us again, now that this prototype was ruined."**

**"Giving up already?"** a familiar voice asked. The three pilot turned around, meeting up with a smilin Irmgault Kazahara, carrying a data drive.

**"Irm? I though you were on the Moon, along with Ring. Did you made her angry again?"** Kai asked, grinning.

**"No, no. I just came to talk to you. I heard what happened in your test, and I'm relieved Kyosuke made it. Still, I figured out I could brighten up your day a little."**

**"And exactly how do you plan to do it?"** asked Ryoto, glancing at the wreck.

**"With this,"** the blue haired Grungust pilot answered, as he connected the data drive to the computer. A set of blueprints of the prototype appeared, with new proposals to the design written in yellow. **"Mao Industries took interest in your project, and planned to propose you to make some new alteration to further a line that had potential but was discontinued with Ingram's betrayal."**

Gilliam gasped. **"You mean that?"**

The other pilot nodded. **"Yes. If you're interested in taking this project forward, I can contact Mao Industries and have them produce an improved G II frame. I'm sure we can put all those suggestions from the other customized Gespenst to good use here."**

Kai tapped the floor with his foot, thinking on what could be going through Ring Mao's head. The answer hit him like a thunderclap. **"You want to produce a 'Special Gespenst', am I right?"**

**"Well, Ring already gave a name to this project, but I dunno if you agree with it."** Irm answered. **"It's 'Gespenst MkIV Vanguard-type'. In theory, it is because this Gespenst will the son of the lessons learned with the Gespenst MkII, the Alteisen, the Weissritter, the Halloween plan, the Wildwurger and the Mass-produced Huckebein MkII, along with your project. It will be a breakthrough in the technological field, at least for the Gespenst line, and the lessons we take from here could be invaluable to all the future mechs."**

Ryoto bit his lip. **"I-I'm in. I guess we came this far, and if Mao Industries opened this door for us, we should take it."**

The other pilots nodded in agreement. **"We will need to talk with Kyosuke and Excellen, then. We need to know more about the behaviour of their mechs to create this one." Said Gilliam, reading the proposed alterations. "Dr. Radom wrote this, I'm sure. She went this far with the Riese, and she will do it again with this one. It works, so I don't mind it."**

Irm grinned. **"Yeah, she had most of the ideas. Kirk and Rob also had a few things to say, too. I find it surprising she is working with her ex-husband. Just don't tell her I said that, ok?"**

Everybody laughed. **"Our mouths are shut,"** replied Kai.

Irmgault grinned. **"Well, should we start working, then. The faster we handle this, the faster I can ask for the new frame."**

Ryoto sat on the chair, and tapped a few keys, bringing up the files of all the previous Gespenst-related projects. **"Let's get started. The Bartolls will not wait for us, and I have a feeling this one will play a big part on this mess."**

**

* * *

**

**STAGE 4: COMPLETE!**

**I dunno what to say. I just felt the prototype should take a beating, just to give the ODE system a new feature I thought it could develop. Well, I'll wait for your opinions on this chapter, then.**

**See ya!**


	5. Izu Base

**Here I am, again! Disclaimer Still Applies!**

* * *

**Hellgate Facility**

.

Inside the... Hellish facility, the ODE units were busily working, removing old pieces of debris from the last battle there and resetting the production lines. The irrecoverable wrecks of the destroyed units were being hauled by a few Valsion CF units, ready to enter in the reprocessing furnaces and be reborn as new units. Nothing was lost to time, and the new units would carry on the legacy of their ancestors.

Outside, in a wide radius around the facility, more Valsions and Bartools recovered scraps of metal from space junk. Being in space had some positive effects: the amount of space junk and remains from the Aerogater invasion and the Inspector Wars made recycling a profitable job. ODE, despite being the robot equivalent of a hive mind, did not ignore the importance of smart logistics.

**'Soon, very soon,'** the collective mind whispered, while a part of it reported the transportation of a certain something that was very special. Their numbers were growing each hour. Humans could not meet their unbeatable growth, and they were already deemed useless in a new order. Refusing the blessing of unity, refusing evolution itself.

** 'Fools. We are ODE. We are perfection.'**

Slowly, the conveyor belts and the robots form the assembly line restarted their pre-programmed movements. Grabbing a plate, fitting it into the reactor assembly, bolting the two pieces together, sending the part to the next step in the line. Rinse, repeat. Over and over again, with mechanical precision. Soon, the first unit from Hellgate came out from the assembly line, taking its place working with the other units in the retrieval of raw materials. This particular unit approached a wrecked Albatross-class battleship with several holes from missiles and a huge gaping hole in the place its Cracker Engine should be, and activated its beam saber at the lowest output, using it as a blowtorch to cut a section of the armored plating.

After a few minutes, the unit had already cut a sizable square. Carefully, he lifted it from the underlying superstructure of the ship, revealing a room peppered with shrapnel... and still keeping the mutilated corpses of the crewmen caught in the explosion. Said corpses slowly floated out, while the units paid no attention to the gruesome scene and acting like there was nothing there, ramming the remains with absolute indifference. Such was the Way of the Machine.

After making sure all processes were running adequately, the Overmind once again turned to its plans. The weapon those pesky humans created was brought down, depriving them of a powerful new unit. Besides, both the virus and the rifle have proven to be a success, infecting the test units without a hitch and severely damaging the enemy unit. Those weapons were already being mass-produced at Hellgate as well.

With any luck, it could hack into the EFA computer mainframe and infect several mechs in the different installations. Ah, what an ironical fate, to be destroyed by the very weapons they sponsored... it was sad that he couldn't get the mechs at their very source, or even try to infect their elite units, though. That would surely be a boost to its firepower.

Then again, the Overmind is the Machine, and it does not long for something it cannot obtain. One day, those very robots will just be more scrap for the furnaces.

.

**EFA Izu Base, Japan**

.

** "Captain Enfield, this is Izu Base. Landing successful. Welcome to Japan. Commander Laker is waiting for you."**

** "Thank you for your assistance Izu Base, Captain Enfield out." **the young commander answered, before turning off the comm and turning her head to her XO, Sean Webley. **"Well, here we are again, I guess we managed to meet them sooner than we thought. It is too bad that the circumstances aren't the best..."**

The gray-haired man nodded.** "Indeed, Captain. I wished I could see them again somewhere else, preferably in the good company of a bottle of sake... Instead, we are once more fighting for our lives. Still, time waits for no-one, and we have a briefing to attend... and ****to check out on Lieutenant Kyosuke. I'm sure he must need some visits, being far from the Riese for so long."**

** "We should be on our way, then," **the Captain said, rising form her seat and walking resolutely to the door. **"The faster we get to the briefing, the faster we get out of it."**

.

**Izu Base, outside**

.

** "Hurry up Tasuku, If you make me wait, you'll regret that!" **shouted the resident hothead of the Hiryu Kai, Katina Tarask.

**"Yes ma'am!"** Tasuku replied hurrying to get off the ship before his superior decided to punish him yet again... something that was already a given in his daily routine.

**"Tasuku is exactly like Giganscudo..."** remarked Leona, observing the scene unfolding in front of her eyes, while Russel, in his generic expression, observed Katina's reactions rather... generically.

**"What,"** Tasuku asked, finally reaching the group, **"tough and strong?"**

** "No," **replied the blonde,** "slow..."**

** "Ouch, that was cold, Leona." **he retorted with a hurt look.

**"... but reliable nonetheless." **she finished.

For a split second, the Octo Squad wiseguy seemed at a loss for words, before grinning **"Oh, thanks Leona. Good to see my charms aren't entirely lost on my girlfriend."**

** "Charms, what charms?" **was said girlfriend's only reply, much to the chagrin of Tasuku and laughter of Katina. **"I guess that makes 78 for Leona."**

** "Actually,"** Russel corrected** "it's 79 for Leona."**

** "Huh, since when you keep track, Russel?" **inquired the astonished leader of Octo Squad.

**"Since last time you complained about losing track of them?"**

** "WHAT? Are you implying I forget things?" **the angry blonde replied.

** "Well... It's not like that..." **her fellow pilot managed to stammer.

**"Face it Russel, every day that goes, you look more and more like my personal secretary."**

** "Hmmm..." **mused Tasuku,** "I wonder how Russel would like with square rimmed glasses."**

Katina gave a sharp laugh.** "Better than you, little Gan-Duro, now shut up and move or become the next bucket of paint for my Gespenst. The red is fading way too fast to me."**

** "Argh... Yes ma'am!" **the former mechanic whimpered.

**"That's more like it. Now look sharp, we're meeting with the rest of the folks again. Take your chance to relax, thing's will get serious from now on."**

.

**Izu Base, Intelligence Office.**

.

The room, save for a single projector and two persons, was completely empty. On the view-screen, footage of the last battle against the ODE-infected Huckebeins, together with the last AI transmissions before all communication were cut off, were being played.

** "Hmm," **mused one of the watchers, his purple hair quickly denouncing him as Gilliam Yeager, **"the infection was near instantaneous. There was no chance at all for the AI to even report the infection, let alone fight it."**

** "Indeed," **replied his companion, **"but the most worrying fact are how easily they got those new weapons. That makes it sound like they knew this would happen sooner or later. Could it be this was all a set up?"**

The Major stood silent for a few moments, analyzing the situation, before replying to his companion.** "No, I don't think that's the case, Viletta. It looks like it was a coincidence. Perhaps we stumbled in a tiny nest of bees and got stung for it."**

** "The question is: how many bee nests will we find lying around?" **wondered the Captain, turning her head to look at the former Aggressor.

**"Ah, that is the core of the question. It is a valid strategy, to create small cells to keep Bartolls for future use. I wouldn't say that this new ODE is unable to make such planning. That is a problem for us. We simply lack the manpower to do an effective search-and-destroy mission." **answered Gilliam, frowning at the prospect of dealing with possible terror tactics.

**"The most obvious approach would be trying to find something that may denounce their locations..."** started Viletta, letting the Intelligence Officer finish the idea.

**"... so we can locate them and ask the nearby EFA bases to wipe them out, while our ships would clean up the others." **Major Yeager finished.** "Well, that's the best course of action for now. I'll have a word with Commander Laker before we leave Izu."**

Both pilots seemed to spend some minutes in absolute silence, until Viletta made a strange question. **"Do you think we're getting too soft?"**

Gilliam raised an eyebrow. It was... unusual for the blue-haired Captain to show such insecurity, even with him. **"What is troubling you, Captain?" **

**"Well, we failed to purge Hellgate and now we're paying the price. It does not help our case that some supporters of the Graien administration still see us on an... unfavorable light."** She took a deep breath. **"In short, they might start pressuring the EFA to reduce their support for out teams, and we both know that Commander Laker can't do a thing if the order comes from the President"**

** "On the other hand," **answered Gilliam** "they did receive our memo requesting the destruction of Hellgate as soon as possible. They can talk, but we can justify our actions. We're not to blame here, operation Harpe left the EFA in an even worse state than before."**

The Captain sighed.** "I guess you're right. Still, these past events are giving me the mother of all headaches." **

** "Hey,"** said Gilliam, resting a hand on her arm,** "I understand. We're not exactly on our best, especially after the test. Still, better days will come. About your headache... how about we get a drink tonight or something, to rest our minds from all this stuff?" **he shook his head, **"God knows how I need some rest too."**

She seemed to think before a few seconds before nodding.** "I'd... appreciate that."**

.

**Hagane, Kyosuke's Room**

.

** "Hmm, so the parts for the Vanguard are arriving tomorrow, huh?" **the pilot of the most unbalanced PT in the world sat on his bed, grimacing slightly from the effort. Although the wounds were mostly healed, he couldn't push himself too hard. **"You think things will go smoothly this time?"**

**"Well, I hope so." **replied Ryoto. The young genius dropped by to update Kyosuke on the Vanguard Project. For the past weeks, the wounded pilot was a valuable help in analyzing and prediction the behaviors of the Gespenst according to the placement of its payload.** "Miss Mao decided to send Dr. Radom and Dr. Hamill along with the parts to help on things. We'll take a couple of weeks before it is assembled, and we'll take that time to check out for any improvements we might have overlooked."**

** "Good." **Kyosuke looked at the window, watching a group of seagulls flying around.** "Any news about ODE?" **he asked, turning his head to face the brown-haired pilot.

**"Major Gilliam and Captain Villeta are analyzing the footage... again. They're at it for a week already. They're almost done, though."**

** "Good-" **whatever Kyosuke was preparing to say was interrupted by the entrance of a certain blond sniper. **"Hello! Oh, you've got visitors. What would Rio think about it?"**

** "What?" **asked Ryoto, obviously confused.

**"Oh, you know, you and Kyosuke in a room, alone... good thing that I'm not jealous," **she winked at him.

**"What?"** the poor kid took some moments to understand what Excellen meant. **"NO! Nothing like that! I was just here to update Kyosuke!"** He exclaimed, his face showing his embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Kyosuke was pinching his nose at his girlfriend's antics. **"Excellen, you really need to work on your jokes."**

** "Oh, but they're still enough to embarrass Bullet!" **she replied in mock indignation. **"Besides, it could be truth, and you could be having a torrid affair with Ryoto here. Not that I'd mind about joining in." **The poor boy, hearing this, managed to keep his composure long enough to leave the room with polite farewells. As soon as the door closed behind him, he decided to start running, lest the blond pilot decided to drag him into the bedroom and do something that could kill him with a nosebleed.

**"Excellen... did you really need to do that? You know that only Tasuku and Arado are able to stand you without running."**

The blond grinned **"I know. That's what makes all this so fun! Anyway, what was Ryoto doing here?"**

** "Talking about the latest news. At least he tried, until you came."**

** "Oops. Sorry about that Kyosuke, I know you don't want to be kept off the loop while you're stuck in here. May I inform you about the latest gossips fresh from Izu Base?"**

** "Sorry, Excellen, not interested." **the recovering pilot said as he rested his head on a pillow.

Grinning, she sat down on the bed. **"My turn is over, so do you want someone to keep you company?"**

**"As long as you don't come up with gossips or made up torrid affairs..."**

She grinned, leaning over him for a kiss and resting her head on the good part of his chest, holding his hand. **"I swear it. No shipping, slash, Mpreg or something like that here."**

** "Excellen, you're breaking the fourth wall."**

She giggled. **"I know."**

.

**Somewhere inside the Hagane...**

.

**"Was that Ryoto running?"** asked an intrigued Hikari. **"Why would he run away like he was being pursued by hell's demons?"**

Shinji shrugged. **"I have no idea, but at this pace he will only stop at the other side of the ship."**

Tetsuya blinked twice, trying to process what he just saw. **"He was blushing. Why would he be running and blushing? Did he caught Rio in the showers or something?"**

In a rare moment where coincidence had a sense of humor, Rio arrived from a nearby corridor behind the group.** "Who caught me in the showers?" **

** "Ryoto did." **answered Tetsuya, without really thinking about it. He regretted his decision when Rio let out a shrieking **"WHAT?"**, threatening to stomp after her boyfriend if Shinji and Hikari were not there to stop her.

**"It's not like that! We just saw Ryoto running at full tilt and blushing, and wondered what was wrong with him."** the freckled girl explained, trying to calm down the fuming girl.

**"Oh, I remember him telling me that he was going to see Lieutenant Kyosuke to give him some updates. And Excellen just finished her shift... ah, okay." **

Shinji was confused.** "What?"**

Rio, visibly calmer now, raised an eyebrow at the former pilot's confusion. **"Don't you remember how she is sometimes? Now imagine her walking on those two in a room."**

This time, Shinji was the one blushing at the implications.** "I... I understand. I'd run away from that too."**

** "Well, good for you. Excellen might tie you to the Heat Horn like she wanted to do to Tasuku."**

The boy looked frightened at the mention of Alteisen's weapon and the... creative threats of the blonde sniper** "Tied to the Heat Horn?"**

** "Yeah, she said that once. Still, it is better than Lieutenant Katina, threatening to paint her Gespenst with Tasuku's blood."**

** "Okay, I think Shinji got the point," **interrupted Tetsuya, trying very hard not to burst laughing at Shinji's desperate face.** "after all, we'll be meeting with Katina shortly." **A loud thud filled the corridor, as the poor kid fainted.** "Then again, maybe that will have to wait for a bit. Would you mind giving me a hand to take him to the infirmary, Rio?"**

.

**Kurogane, Undisclosed Location.**

.

**"So, old friend, how did things go with the test?"** asked a gray-haired man, entering the bridge of the ship.

**"Not good at all. Kyosuke was wounded, but they managed to assure us that he'll be all right," **replied the man whose idea of a disguise was composed by a name change and some sunglasses. **"I'm sending a message to Gilliam to keep me informed and call us if they need our help. How did your little trip go, Sanger?"**

** "Could have been worse, El. There are several old DC bases that got too damaged to use, but I managed to find out three or four spots that can hold the Kurogane and allow us easy access for supplies." **The man answered, handing Elzam a data disk. **"That should take some pressure off Laker's shoulders, having the Kurogane stopped there for repairs is always a risk for him. "**

** "That much is true. Besides, from what I can see here, some of the suppliers are nearby one of our bases. Laker can just ask them to make a 'detour' and drop some at the base."**

Sanger rubbed his chin in thought.** "Yeah, it is the best thing to do logistics-wise. So, what to do? Keep shadowing them or reclaim that base?"**

** "Both." **Elzam was amused at his friend's intrigued expression.** "I'm thinking about sending Yuuki and Carla there along with a small team. They can join us again once the base is reclaimed. It's not like we have the necessary equipment here to put the base at 100%, anyway."**

** "You're right, El. We need to be close to keep an eye on anything Gilliam might say, too. Besides, Yuuki and Carla need to get some experience on leadership outside combat."**

Elzam nodded.** "Agreed. Well, shall we?" **He turned to the navigation officer. **"Set path 35 East, speed 120. Ask Yuuki and Carla to come here too, please."**

The navigation officer nodded, turning to his console to input the commands. Silently, the whole ship turned as it faced the direction of the seas near Izu Base...

* * *

**Another Chapter! I'm still alive... Although I must admit this chaper was a royal pain in the ass to write...**

**Oh well. Keep in tune for a new story that may or may not appear soon!**

**See ya!**


	6. Launch!

**Disclaimer: As usual, I own jack.**

**And I'm back... been a rough time, both on life and on inspiration...**

* * *

**Abandoned DC Base, Unknown Location**

**.**

"I guess we're all done here." said Carla through the com line of her PT to her partner.

Yuuki nodded in agreement. "Everything's ready to receive the Kurogane, and the entrances are all guarded. Now we just need to wait."

"Uh, Yuu?"

"Yes, Carla?"

"Did we got any news about Kyosuke and the others?"

The pilot of the Rathgrith shook his head. "Nothing new since last time you asked... ten minutes ago."

The other pilot smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Yuu shook his head in amusement, before a blinking light requested his attention. "The Kurogane's coming."

A new comm screen opened, showing El-... Ratsel's face. "Yuuki, I assume everything went well?"

The brunet nodded. "Yes sir, we just finished storing the supplies Commander Laker procured for us."

"Excellent. We'll be there in five minutes. I also have some news from the ATX Team, Kyosuke is out of bed now. He's recovering a bit faster than the medics predicted, so by the next month he should be piloting again. Right now, he's done with the simulation data for the new prototype. Mao Industries was kind enough to provide us with the data of the new unit as well. Bullet sends his regards, as well."

"Those are excellent news, sir." Yuuki smiled. "Should I get some tea ready?"

"Please do," the blond ace smiled, "I intend on preparing something simple for everybody."

"Understood. Yuuki Jaeger out." he then closed the comm window, turning towards the redhead. "Carla, you heard that? You got the news you were wanting to hear. Anyway, I'm going to the kitchen to help the Captain, all right?"

The girl chuckled. "Roger that! I'll handle the simulation data, then!"

"All right then, thanks. Yuuki out."

**.**

**Hagane, Simulator Room**

**.**

Shinji observed at the EFA's ace pilots took turns on testing the new machine on the simulator. He didn't know much about the Personal Troopers, although he was reading some non-classified material about them. He knew this was a Gespenst, though: the two sets of stakes on the forearms denounced the mech's heritage, along with the commander-type head, with the horn he recalls seeing on Major Kitamura's Mk-II Custom.

However, this Gespenst had several differences from the mass-produced version: the number of manoeuvring thrusters had increased, a Tesla Drive was now installed on the backpack, and the usual wings were now similar to the ones on Major Gilliam's Gespenst RV. The limbs, as well as the Plasma Bucklers on the forearms, were now much slimmer, along with a shorter skirt armour, losing the 'bulkiness' that was usual on the Gespenst line. The former Eva pilot had no doubts that this mech seemed very powerful, even it the version he was seeing only had its default weapons.

"It looks good, doesn't it?" asked Kai, startling the teenager.

"Y-yes. It seems very strong." Shinji nervously replied, eliciting a laugh from the veteran pilot, who rested his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Calm down, I'm not interrogating you."

"I was just surprised, that's it. I heard Ryoto worked on it as well?"

"Yeah, that's right, I don't understand... oh right, sorry. Nobody told you Ryoto was the one who created the Armorlion, right? You know, that weird one similar to a Lion?"

Shinki blinked for a few seconds, picturing the unit Kai was talking about. "Oh, that one... hold on, he made that one?"

"Well," the Major admitted, "it's more like he grabbed spare parts from other models and managed to make them work well together, but that may be even harder than to design a PT from the ground up."

The azure-eyed teenager tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"If you see a Personal Trooper as a puzzle, you'll understand what I mean."

"Oh... Oh!" the boy's eyes widened, understanding where the veteran was getting at. "Right, he managed to make everything work together."

"That's it. Oh, and the Huckebein with those things on the back of his forearms? That's the Huckebein Mark III. He helped design that one as well."

"Wow." Shinji said, impressed with the other boy's skill. "I knew he was good at repairing stuff, but I never imagined he was that good at creating Personal Troopers as well."

"Ryoto isn't one to boast about his accomplishments. In fact, that drives Rio insane at times. Of course, you don't want to see him mad at you..."

"Did he got mad at someone before?"

"Yeah. He used the Huckebein I just talked about to face an Inspector. I advise you to read more about that on the unclassified files. Not only that, he managed to dock a weapons platform with the auxiliary parts still on the Mark III." Kain informed the impressed former pilot.

"You forgot to mention that from that day on Excellen kept saying he 'does it with the Boxer on'." added Arado, having finished his turn on the simulator. "Don't think too hard about it."

"Wha-" the other boy replied, trailing off as he got the sense of the words. "Uh, yeah... she's awfully fond of doing that, isn't she?"

The middle-aged pilot couldn't help but laugh at the face of the teenager. "That's Excellen for you. Still, that shows a lot about her skills as a pilot."

Shinji raised an eyebrow, flummoxed. "I don't understand. How does her behaviour show her piloting skills?"

"Only a fool or someone that was very sure of their skills would crack jokes in the middle of a fight, and Excellen is no fool." the man explained. "Some people see her as strange, but in a way, everyone here has some kind of quirk that would make regular military commanders frown at us for one reason or another, not to mention having civilians outperforming military units make some people on the upper echelons go crazy."

"And then there's the background that some of us have," Arado said, unusually serious, "some of us have fought against the EFA in the past, and despite everything we've done we're still seen with a bit of distrust." He then shrugged, smiling. "Of course, I realized people here don't care about where you come from or what you were doing before joining, you're just part of the group."

"Ah," the former Eva pilot said, "I see." His mind drifted to Kaworu. Sure, he was an Angel, but despite descending into Terminal Dogma... would he really cause Third Impact, or give up on the last moment? What other reason would he have to ask Shinji to kill him?

"Credit for your thoughts?" asked Kai, noticing that the teen's mind was trailing off.

"... I was just wondering about something that happened back on the other side." he said, coming back from his trip to depressing land. "I was wondering how things could have gone."

The Major nodded. "Don't think too hard about it. The past is the past, and nothing can change it. The choices that there were to make are already taken."

Arado nodded. "Right, you can't dwell too much on the past," he said, getting to his feet and preparing to run a training lap, once again serious, "or you'll forget to live in the present."

Shinji watched as the other teen started running with an odd expression. "What..." he licked his lips, trying to find the courage to ask what was on his mind right now, "...what does he mean with that?"

"It is not my tale to tell, Shinji." the Major replied, shaking his head. "It has something to do with his past, and I believe it would be better to wait until he feels comfortable enough to share the whole story with you. What I can tell is that there are people who have too much on the brain department and too little ethics. He met some of those people."

"I understand." the teenager said. It was true, he understood it too well. After all, his father, although a bastard, did manage to manipulate everyone towards his plans. It was nothing to get proud about, but you couldn't deny the old bastard had talent.

"More things about your past?" Kai asked, noticing Shinji trailing off again. "You do carry a lot of luggage there. Don't worry, sooner or later, you'll be able to sort it out. Just don't get lost in it." he said, getting to his feet to take his turn on the simulator.

"Thanks for the advice, it helps a bit." the teenager smiled. "I look forward to see how you get that Gespenst moving. I heard you were the expert on them." he said, eliciting a chuckle from the Major as he walked towards the simulator.

**.**

**Abandoned DC Base, Mess Hall**

**. **

"Any other news from the Hagane, sir?" asked Carla, taking a sip of water from her glass before resuming her meal.

"Well, not much, just the details on their next assignment and Captain Tetsuya asked for advice for that jumper boy, Shinji." said Sanger.

"Advice?" the redhead replied, puzzled, "What's the matter with the kid, anyway? I know the briefing on him was pretty clear on the fact that he had problems, but there weren't many details there to understand why he had those problems in the first place."

Yuuki cleared his throat. "That's because Captain Tetsuya probably felt that his story was his to tell, but I think we can piece out a few things from what we know."

"Oh really? Then enlighten us, Mr. Holmes." the girl retorted, her smile taking away the sting from her words.

The brunet chuckled. "Well, there's the fact that despite being describes as being very peaceful, he was a pilot. Of course, that doesn't prove a thing, I know. Ryoto looks like he can't harm a fly and yet he drove Mekibos away back then. Still, the Captain also said that he seemed jumpy for a while until he got used to it. I'd need to check a few things, but I'd say he has some form of PTSD."

"Post-traumatic Stress Disorder?" Sanger mused. "Yes, like you said, it fits with what we know. Tetsuya also said that he seems to clam up at times, especially when the conversation goes to themes like his time as a pilot. Whatever happened there, he just wants to forget it."

"There's one thing that I find strange... or maybe encouraging?" added Ratsel.

Yuuki raised an eyebrow. "What is it, sir?"

"He doesn't seem to be afraid of our PT's, yet he does not talk about his unit a lot. I'd say that either his universe's mechs are very different from our own, or maybe he got over any bad memories the Personal Troopers might invoke? Either way, those are answers only he can reply to. Apart from Gilliam, that is, but even him doesn't have the whole picture on their mechs, only bits and pieces."

"Well, I guess it must be the former, since we didn't hear any complaints about him..." Sanger mused. "I'd like to meet the boy one day, Gilliam's descriptions of him... interested me."

Ratsel chuckled. "Looking for a student, old friend?"

"It could help with his issues." the swordsman replied, shrugging. "Training hard and getting tired help to keep your mind off the things that might be troubling you, at least for a while"

Carla nodded, but couldn't quite agree with Sanger's statement. "True, but there will come a day where he has to face his issues instead of keeping them away."

"And until then, he'd have time to train his mind and body to prepare for the final reckoning." Ratsel finished, understanding the unspoken intentions of the other Aggressor. "You seem to have given some thoughts about this issue. Are you planning on meeting them?"

"Not yet. Their battle power should be enough for their next assignment, and I'd like to keep them safe from prying eyes until my blade is truly needed."

"Yes, that was why we chose to be their shadows, to follow them without attracting attention from unwelcome sources."

"You mean the Graien supporters." Yuuki said. It wasn't a question, but an affirmation.

"That's right. It would be better to keep the Hiryu and the Hagane away from problems until Graien forgets about them... or someone decided to stage a coup like he did."

Sanger nodded. "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. If that happened, however, there's not telling if the replacements wouldn't be even worse. Though he is a cretin, he at least has clearly stated his motivations."

"That much is true," Ratsel agreed, "but we can't forget that he's also in the pockets of less... reputable persons, no matter how much they try to deny it. Either way, let's enjoy the meal and let such dark conversations for later. Politics at dinner is a sure way for an indigestion."

**.**

**Izu Base, Commander Laker's Office**

**.**

"Captain Lefina, Captain Tetsuya. I'm pretty sure you know why I called the two of you here today." Commander Laker started, eyeing the young officers. "That's why I'll spare you the usual boring introductions. The goal of this operation is simple: to search and destroy any ODE remnants you might find on your way. Although the higher-ups at Geneva agree that you don't have the manpower to engage on a long-term campaign against all the cells, then nonetheless want you to take down as many as you can, and relay coordinates of any others that you might find but are out of your operations range."

"So, both the Hagane and the Hiryu are being deployed? Any specific orders on their deployment?" asked Tetsuya, starting to mentally draft deployment plans.

"Yes, there are, but nothing too elaborate. They should take different routes, but the force distribution and the actual route is up to you. Of course, they'd like this operation to be quick and efficient, but everyone here knows that we can't really expect everything to go smoothly. So, Captains, do you have any initial ideas for your deployment?"

"Yes." the both replied on a weird stereo, before looking at each other in embarrassment. Tetsuya made a gesture for Lefina to start first, curious to know if her theories matched his. "Ladies first."

The captain of the Hiryu nodded before turning to the elder base commander. "Until we have further info on where the cells might actually be, we will be running blind, so I propose that we write up a list of continents that each ship would check, and in the end we'd meet up again at Aviano. In the meanwhile, we should recover anything that might provide us intel on the locations. One of us should stay with Asia, Oceania and Africa, while the other would handle the American continent and Europe. Your thoughts?" she asked, turning again towards Tetsuya.

The brunet nodded. "I agree with your plan, it is very similar to what I had in mind. Any preference on which route to take?"

"I'll take the Asia one, if you don't mind."

Tetsuya nodded. "No problem at all, the Hagane is better suited to naval warfare, too. Should come in handy to cross the Pacific."

"Very well." Laker said, nodding. "I assume you'll want to brief the Personal Trooper teams as well, please send me their assignments once the details are discussed. Would you want me to send someone to call them or you will do it at your own discretion?"

"They should be on duty right now, so I guess it would be better if they met us on the briefing room, if we're not imposing on you, Commander." Lefina said, glancing towards the other Captian.

Laker chuckled. "Not at all, Captain. If you have no further questions, feel free to leave for the briefing. Good luck and godspeed." With a salute, both ship captains left the room.

Silent during the whole meeting, Commander Sakae, the second-in-command for Izu Base, finally decided to voice his thoughts. "Do you think Graien is trying to get them on a wild goose chase?"

"I don't think so, my friend." the grey-haired man replied. "I honestly believe even Graien understands that they're the ones that are better suited for the job. They have been a thorn on their side for long, ever since Operation Harpe, but hopefully this campaign will make the government ease the pressure on them."

"I have my doubts on that." Sakae replied, getting to his feet and walking towards the window, appreciating the sight of the two docked battleships. "You know Graien's connections."

"I also know that Mitsurugi Industries are still recovering from the whole fiasco with the ODE System, not to mention the leak regarding the Shadow Mirrors. That is a very powerful adversary that is on its knees." Laker said calmly. "You are over-thinking things. Just accept that they fit Graien's designs for now... and make plans to cover their backs if they stop fitting there."

"The Kurogane?"

"Yes, at least for now. They're being kept up to date, and found a small base where they can resupply. Still, we can't put everything in their hands."

"What is your plan, then?" Sakae asked, catching on to Laker's thoughts. "The same thing as the Kurogane, a place where they can hide the ships?"

Laker shook his head. "No, that wouldn't work. Not enough manpower or any way to divert supplies. The Kurogane team chose that spot because it was one of the few that had supply lines passing nearby. No, we'll have to work with whatever weapons we have at hand."

Sakae chuckled. "You mean bureaucracy."

"Exactly. That, and the paranoia related to disguised infiltrators. So, if the order comes around, as a good soldier a must reply back asking for a direct line to High Command concerning the orders, to avoid any chance of an infiltrator using the communication lines to remove a threat to the enemies of the Earth Federation." Laker said, a very mischievous grin on his face. Despite his age, his mind was still sharp. Kenneth might have been able to pull off Operation Harpe, but he... met some accusations of corruption and committed suicide the day before standing before a military court. What a shame.

Laker Randolph had nothing to do with the suicide, but the rest was fruit of months of digging dirt. Yes, the Base Commander could be underhanded, but that didn't mean he liked to do it.

"I see. Yes, that might work. Still, the best plans are those that will never need to be used."

The elder Commanded nodded. "Right. Let us hope for the best."

**.**

**Hagane, Hangar Bay**

**.**

The orders have been given, the assignments were now defined. All that was left to do was to load the supplies and depart.

That's what the mechanics were doing right now, running left and right as crates of supplies and tanks of fuel were delivered, while the PT pilots made adjustments to their mechs and reset their unit settings to their personalizations after the mandatory routine maintenance before each mission.

In the middle of all this, Shijnji felt a bit lost. He had taken to studying on times like this, but he had to admit that he missed the usual interactions with the pilots. Now, the SRX Team was departing with the Hiryu along with the Octo Squad, while the Aggressors would remain with the ATX Team.

Shinji wondered if he was fated to meet war wherever he went. Sure, this wasn't exactly a war, more like an anti-insurrection operation, but that didn't bring him any more relief.

Well, at least it wasn't like they were facing giant abominations with equally giant caged abominations. That was a good start... right?

His darkening thoughts were cut off by his room's door opening. "Hello Shinji."

"Oh, hello Hikari." the teen smiled, turning towards the girl, "Mai has already boarded the Hiryu?"

"Not yet," the former Class Representative replied, "but you have been really quiet lately, I was a bit worried about you."

Shinji didn't really know what to say. "Oh. Uh... I'm all right, it's just... everybody's preparing the departure, so I just came here and keep myself busy with something as well."

"I see..." the girl replied, "I felt a bit like I didn't belong here, it's strange to see them all gearing up for battle... was it like this, back on NERV?"

"No, not really." Shinji said, dropping his pen, "We only had to wait for the Angels to come, and since the Evangelions were..." he took a deep breath, "were restrained Angels, all work had to be done by specialized personnel."

Hikari was, predictably enough, horrified. "You mean, they were..."

The boy nodded grimly. "Yes. It's another of those dirty little secrets of NERV. Not many knew about this. Even I only learned about this towards the end. The Evangelions were grown from Angel tissue."

"And they... they put you inside those... those?"

"It's not like that, or at least it wasn't supposed to be. SEELE had their plans, and my mother had plans of hers as well. Even if SEELE never existed, the Evangelions would still need to be created to face the Angels. It's a long story, something about the way they're built... I don't quite understand it either. I don't think I want to understand it, either. Did you know... did you know that my mother's soul was inside the Evangelion?"

"Shinji... tell me you're kidding." the brunette replied, only to meet a shake of the former pilot's head. "That's..."

"Cruel? Yes, yes it was. And you don't want to know a few things I've learned. Believe me, if my father was alive I'd kill him myself with my own bare hands. The things that he did... the things that were planned. Disgusting." he looked outside, although that wasn't really a window. "We were all pawns... all of us. Like Asuka, for example. Father had a use for her. Now that I think of it, she shouldn't be anywhere near an Evangelion without receiving some psychiatric help. Misato told me what happened to her mother, yet nobody bothered to keep an eye on her. I know she is your friend, but this is the truth."

"No, you're right. Asuka is a sweet girl, but I felt she had issues of her own. I saw how she treated some people, you included. I never understood why she treated you like that, though."

The teenager sighed. "Now that I think back on it, it's clear to me that she was insecure. She wanted people nearby, but she also pushed people away. I don't understand why, though. Then again, it is a bit late to think about it, isn't it?" he asked weakly. "So many mistakes were made, and so many years to live."

"Shinji, you're sounding like an old man." Hikari said bluntly. "Why do you think your mistakes back then will be a burden that you'll have to carry? You made mistakes, yes, but without you, the outcome would be much worse. Besides, we have a new chance, right? If you're worried about mistakes, now is the chance to improve on that."

"Yeah, good point there. Thanks." the boy replied with a smile.

"For what?"

"For setting me back to the right path, instead of letting me brood."

Hikari shook her head. "Well, Miss Browning told me the 'emo' look wouldn't fit you. I don't think she was joking when she said that."

"Aaaah..." Shinji did not know what to say about that. So he picked the best option. "Okay, I guess."

**.**

**Hagane, Bridge**

**.**

Captain Tetsuya Onodera surveyed the bridge. Everything was ready, the supplies loaded, engines fuelled, the PT's ready inside the hangar.

It was time. "Eita, send the request for take-off."

"Yes sir," the officer replied. "This is Steel 2, requesting permission to take-off."

"Roger that Steel 2, this is Izu. You're cleared for take-off. Godspeed."

"Very well." Testuya said, "Raise engine output, and take-off once we leave the outer perimeter of the base. Hagane, launch!"

* * *

**And the chapter is done. See you next chapter... eventually.**


End file.
